Needle



April 10, 1956 R. oRTHwlNE NEEDLE Filed Dec. 22, 1955 INVENTOR Raam F @ferm/WM5 d BY 'ATTORNEY ite tates Patent O NEEDLE Rudolf Orthwine, New York, N, Y.

Application December 22, 1953, Serial No. 399,717

1 Claim. (Cl. 22B-102) This invention relates to needles having a head especially designed to facilitate threading and minimize damage to the fabric being sewed.

The needle construction contemplated by the invention permits of lateral threading, as opposed to end-wise threading, and is an improvement over needles already known in the art which provide lateral threading in at least two basic respects. Firstly, the open region of the head which terminates in an entrance passage leading to the eye is located on the body side thereof and is channelled or funnelled so that the thread is naturally guided thereto. Secondly, the head is so formed that its dimensions are no larger than the body at its normally largest point near the head, and presents no sharp or pointed surfaces thus assuring maximum protection for the cloth through which the needle is drawn.

It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a needle which makes threading easy.

Another object is to provide a needle head structure which lends itself to mass production.

Another object of the invention is to provide an irnproved needle which is safe to use even on sheer and delicate fabrics.

These as well as other objects and features of the invention are exemplified by the preferred embodiment hereinafter described and shown in the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. l is an isometric of one embodiment of the nvention showing a tag and its attaching cord threaded into the eye ready for use;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged detail of the needles head construction;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged section taken on the line 3--3 of Fig. 2 particularly showing the relative dimensions of the head elements and the body of the needle; and

Fig. 4 is a view similar to Fig. 2 showing an alternative head construction.

The needle 1 of the invention is a simple modification of a standard needle having a head 2 of conventional form, tapering from full width near the top to its apex or pointed end.

The conventional needle eye is formed by two arms joined at the top of the needle and integrally connected to the body on two sides thereof, the embodiment provided by this invention has one arm 3 which is connected to one side of the body and extends therefrom for a portion of its length and is then doubled back to form a loop 4, the free end of the arm being bent into touching engagement with the arm at 5 proximate its juncture with the needle body 6. The arm is sprung out of engagement by the thread during the threading operation.

An important feature of the invention is that it is ICC an extremely simple modification of the standard or conventional needle head one arm of which is severed from the needle body and made to contact itself to form an entrant passage for the laterally fed thread. Accordingly the severed arm is in effect but a doubled back extension of the arm 3 which is joined to the body of the needle.

The severed or free end of the arm 3 is folded back on itself, either by folding over or under as shown in Figs. 2 and 4, respectively, below the point of engagement at 5 to form a bead 7. The advantage of the bead is that it eliminates the sharp edges or points which would otherwise be offered by the severed end of the arm and substitutes rounded or blunted surfaces therefor. An additional advantage resides in the consequent formation of a mouth or opening 8 at the bottom of the head next to the body 6. The opening 8 is also bounded by the arm 3 near its juncture with the body 6. It is apparent that as the surfaces of the bead and the arm converge toward the entrant passage at 5 they form a natural channel or guide chute for threading.

As shown particularly in Fig. 3 the dimensions of the head do not exceed the dimensions of the body of the needle in the transverse plane. The longitudinal axes of the head and body are colinear. Thus the transverse dimensions of the loop and bead are not outside the projected transverse section of the body at the aim juncture. This assures that the needles head will effect no greater distortion or rupture of the cloth fabric than that caused by the penetration of the body.

To thread the needle the thread or cord 9 is looped over the body of the needle and slid back until the opening 8 is reached, where it enters and is guided to the entrant passage at 5. A final pull in the same direction will cause the thread to pass through the restriction at that point and enter the loop 4. The threading is accomplished by a single, continuous and self-seeking movement of the thread. The user is not required to discern the precise location of the passage way into the loop at any stage of the threading operation.

While there has been described a preferred embodiment of the invention, it is understood that the scope of the invention is not limited thereby, but is to be measured in accordance with the following claim:

What is claimed is:

A needle comprising a body circular in cross section and terminating at its large end in an arm arcuate in cross section and having a flat face, said arm forming a reduced extension of the body with the flat face merging smoothly and continuously into one side of the body, the free end of the arm being reversely bent and having its extreme end bent back on itself and resiliently engaging the opposing at face to form a head with a normally closed eye with the said merging portion of the at face forming a rearwardly directed guide for guiding vthe thread into the eye, the maximum transverse dimension of the head not exceeding that of the large end of the body of the needle.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES .PATENTS 17,272 Garvey May 12, 1857 428,263 Blood May 20, 1890 790,120 Garrett May 16, 1905 1,449,068 Snyder Mar. 20, 1923 2,072,209 Jones Mar. 2, 1937 

